Ponting is right when he says Sachin and Dravid couldnt bear the pressure of captaincy inspite of the fact that they were very good players.
Time will tell if Kumble falls in the same category or not.
One thing is for sure..Ganguly doenst fall in that category and the fact that Ponting didnt mention Ganguly among those to couldnt take pressure...speaks for itself the amount of respect Ganguly has just for his leadership in cricketing world.
Kumble as captain we are already on backfoot as we wont play two spinners and Australia have 4 left handers in top 6 so bhajji has to sit out most of the matches.
Test team for australia 1.Karthik or Sehwag 2.Dravid 3.Laxman 4.Sachin 5.Ganguly 6.Yuvraj 7.Dhoni or Pathan 8.Kumble 9 zAHEER 10.RP 11.sREESANTH
With kumble as captain we only have two options. 1.Play Kartik or Dhoni 2.Dravid to open 3.If Kartik PLays then pathan can play 4.If DHONI plays then sehwag can play.
RE:Ponting is right
by YoBro on Nov 22, 2007 07:30 AM Permalink
That's bull crap...sachin was an excellent Test captain. He had a tendency to give a lot of bowling to pace bowlers but they just didn't have it in them. His idea was to groom a pace attact for India. But Srinath lacked the steam to bowl 10-15 overs on the trot at a consistent pace and good line/length, and field with the same energy on a given day.
Even to the day he retired, Srinath could not get the ball to leave the right hand batsman off a perfect line and length. Contrast this with the arsenal the Aussies had at their disposal. McGrath and to some extent, the the other Aussie bowlers, did that like it was bread and butter for them. While Srinath would release the ball a good 2 ft across from the umpire, with the ball always angled in, McGrath's arm almost collided with the umpire before striding in to release.
That is why Sachin quit as captain - its just a waste of time managing a bunch of non-performers - esp. if it affects your batting also - '99 tour was a classic example. Just not worth it.
RE:Ponting is right
by J Nandi on Nov 22, 2007 08:20 AM Permalink
That is a cool one - The captaincy being not worth it! Well, you captain a side regardless of the calibre of your team, not coz it is a sure shot formula for success. If any all are star performers and can give you a sure win, why require a captain at all.
That said, even the most die hard fan of Sachin (me included,for his batting, though)will find it difficult to accept Sachin's performance as a Test Captain. Forget the records, which anyway are not flattering, even the team that got built up was nothing to write home about. No strength got built up during his leadership. He might have ideas to built a successful pace attack - The judgement of his captaincy though would lie on how he performed. And there, Sachin failed, as you point out, the pace battery hardly sparkled ! The performance yardstick has always been in delivery not in intentions !
RE:RE:Ponting is right
by YoBro on Nov 22, 2007 08:52 AM Permalink
In that series, he averaged 50 and others struggled to average even 10 (barring Laxman because of that one inning). '99 pitches were also fast (and turning - Warne enjoyed bowling to the Indians - supposedly good players of spin). This was in contrast to the '04 tour when they had dull pitches and didn't put up their best pace attack.
So when the Aussies were exploiting the pace and turn, is it too much to ask the same from our pace bowlers? Who could he turn to? Kumble can't turn the ball for peanuts and was getting clobbered (he survived '04 because they had slower, drier wickets). Srinath was our frontline pace bowler and he sprayed it all over the place. Our other alternative was Prasad - even Boycott's mom can bowl faster than him.
Let's face it - to be Test champions, one can't rely on spin - because all the major Test sides have pace attacks (even Pak!) and pitches suitable for the same. So the idea was there but ammunition isn't there and never has been - infact it's never going to happen. Barring Kapil Dev (which is why Gavaskar and the others in his time has great overseas records), no one has come forward, worthy of mention. MRF pace foundation is bull-crap.
RE:Ponting is right
by Janardhana on Nov 22, 2007 08:32 AM Permalink
Captaining India and Australia are entirely different which ponting to accepts. The Medial scrutiny, and public fanatism was maximum during Dravid's captaincy. On the contrary Ganguly had a great support from Dalmiya, whatever decisions he took were supported by board, Dravid didn't have that backup. So Comparing captaincy of both these are not right, and I believe, Dravid is equally a good captain and handled the pressure much better than anybody during his 2 year period.
RE:Ponting is right
by on Nov 22, 2007 08:35 AM Permalink
Chuck the bloody bong..he is only good against a namibia and kenya that too in ODIs. he has a pathertic record against all the good pace attacks in test matches. yuvi shud be in and bloody bong shud go and hide behind dona, the way he did as captain when he saw a green top in nagpur !
RE:Ponting is right
by vikram on Nov 22, 2007 09:07 AM Permalink
hey u fool ON better mind ur tongue before u talk okay.calling him a bloody bong okay as a matter of fact fools like ya never checl out the facts and puke out ya frustrations out here.for what u fool ON.okay u idiot here it goes.ganguly's centuries in tests.131 vs england,136 vs england,147,109,173 vs srilanka,101,125 vs new zealand,136 vs zimbabwe,128 vs england,100 vs new zealand,144 vs australia,10 vs zimbabwe,100 vs bangladesh.if u see u fool in his entire test career only 3 of his centuries has come against weaker oponers.so better talk before u post shit out here.
RE:Ponting is right
by ajay singh on Nov 22, 2007 09:26 AM Permalink
idiot dumbwit vikram...how many he score against a pace attack that had mgrath, donald, akram, waqar, akhtar, bond, pollock ? arguably the best pace bowlers of the era? ZERO. now shut up !
RE:Ponting is right
by Janardhana on Nov 22, 2007 01:13 PM Permalink
After playing nearly 100 tests and yet he has only 9 centuries against good quality sides itself is a proof that he is there in the team not on merit but due to some influence.
RE:Ponting is right
by law son on Nov 22, 2007 01:32 PM Permalink
Some of my friends who have written above seem to think that Sachin was the greatest captain who lived. And I agree!!! Yes all those defeats were only because of an international conspiracy that influenced all the other 10 players(except Sachin) to play awfully.Also its a well kept secret that this syndicate used to perform blackmagic on the pitch the previous night of the tests so that Sachin's team lose! Sachin's Captaincy Zindabad!
Also DADA is the greatest batsman India has produced. He has centuries galore against Zimbabwe and BAngladesh that even Gavaskar did not manage(lets forget that he never played against them!!). And when looking at Ganguly's performance, you should count only those ones where he put on his gloves before he put on his shoes.So you will see that he has never failed! Dada, the greatest Zindabad!
RE:Ponting is right
by J Nandi on Nov 22, 2007 08:41 AM Permalink
And yet he is the best Test Captain of India. I cen't recollect - Were most of the Test played against Bangladesh at the Mohunbagan Athletics Club ground ? Ah... who or what is Mohunbagan, now ?
RE:RE:Ponting is right
by on Nov 22, 2007 09:01 AM Permalink
i cant recollect ever ganguly scoring a century against pak or SA? he score on fluke century against aus when they had a depleted pace attack. he is not the best captain of india. he was one who used to run away from the matches. under his leadership india only managed to beat zim in the ODIs at home. thats a pathetic record. he is a mediocre test player.
RE:Ponting is right
by gautam gurnurkar on Nov 22, 2007 07:36 AM Permalink
i dont think dravid opeining is a good choice. he is better off at 3. two out of karthik, jaffer, gambhir and sehwag should.
